The floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. —Matthew 7:25

A few years ago, during the 500-year flooding in the Midwest, our local river nearly reached my friends' back door. I called to offer whatever help I could, but their response was calm. Their house sat atop a slight incline. It was just high enough, a few feet from the swollen river's edge. Dramatic as the flooding was, I was more struck by my friends' lack of anxiety. It was not a blind naïveté. Their home could have been a total loss, like many others' were. But they are people of faith, and I think their reaction would have been very much the same no mater what befell them: "We're okay. God is with us here." I think trust in God looks very much my friends' stoic confidence that everything will be all right - not because nothing bad can happen, but because we believe that God will be with us when it does.

Loving God, help me to trust that you will be with me during all the difficult times of my life. Karla Manternach